In my last post I explained how to get your computer connected to your TV and where to get some good media centre software. Before I share a few resources for getting content for your newly configured media centre, I thought I would talk a bit about my home setup and some of the more "advanced" tweaks you can make to get even more functionality and convenience from your HTPC (or HTMB, if you will).
First thoug…
eChinaCities has a good rundown of what we can expect from tomorrow's massive 60th anniversary celebration marking the founding of the People's Republic of China. It can be watched online in English via CCTV9 starting first thing in the morning. Like most China-centric sites, you may have troubles loading the players in anything other than Internet Explorer.…
China has called up its first black athlete in the form of 19-year-old Ding Hui, who is in fact mixed-race. The ace volleyball player (pictured, below right) has a Chinese mother and a South African father, and speaks only Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese) and Hangzhouhua (the dialect of his home city, Hangzhou).
It will be good to see Ding Hui (丁慧) in action on TV, when he is actually brought out to the public later t…
When I started writing a blog, I didn’t anticipate that I would end up reviewing a Chinese TV series filmed in the early 1990’s. The reason I decided to write the review is that, like a lot of expats living in China, I had viewed a lot of homegrown TV with a kind of resigned condescension. The predictable mix of comedic game-shows with idiotic ‘Tom and Jerry’ background noises added, the ludicrously OTT melodrama wit…
Most expats in China have likely run across Yang Rui while flipping through all one channels of English-language programming. The host of CCTV 9's desperately dry Dialogue, Yang has a disposition that is as unforgettable as it is annoying.
Dialogue has been likened to a Larry King Live-style talk show, whereby Yang interviews various guests about current events and politics. His banter generally takes on a "combat…
This was actually game two for the day, but it’s hard to work a half-day in Suzhou, jump on a two hour train and get to the Nanjing Olympic Stadium (no Olympic events have been or ever will be staged here, by the way) in time for a 2 pm game. Plus, Chico and I had bought tons of beers and the security guards made us finish them outside, so that took a little while.
Upon entering the arena I was surprised at how mo…
Should any Beijing Laowai have a free schedule tomorrow and wish to support a fellow foreigner in his bid to show a national TV audience that he's got some guanxi too, while also helping raise awareness for a charity that secures micro loans for poor rural women, please read the following from American expat, Henry Winter:
I am competing in a national TV reality show called "Win In China" [site in Chinese] - it's a …
In my never-ending quest to get some damn hockey in this country, I've come across this article on CBC's website:
CBC's Hockey Day In Canada will add a multicultural twist to its eighth annual broadcast on Saturday in Winkler, Man. CBC will break new ground with multi-language options available live and online exclusively at CBCSports.ca. The game featuring the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs (CBC, 3 p.m…
With flak jacket on, and earplugs in place, I thought I'd usher in the new lunar year with a little post about the origins of the Chinese New Year, as well as some useful language for the holiday.
This is my fourth endurance of the explosive holiday, and I always approach it with mixed emotions. On the one hand, it's about as abrasive as a holiday can get. It's full of filial duties that force a massive population…
This is for anyone who has turned on Chinese TV and wondered what (in Buddha's name!) the monkey, the pig and the monk are actually doing...
I didn't exist for part of, and was then quite little for the rest of, the 1970s. Which is why all I remember about a TV series about a kungfu-fighting monkey is a kungfu-fighting monkey. So, imagine my surprise when I happened across a Chinese novel, and not just any novel,…
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